This day.

Suddenly, a heatwave shot forth from the palace.

In the blink of an eye, the skies were filled with a scarlet glow, as if a blazing sun was slowly descending into the depths of the palace as it stained half the firmaments.

"Hahahaha!"historical

Taban Feng's eyes lit up and he laughed with raring battle intent. "The Vermilion Fruit's about to ripen. Everyone, follow me and kill our way into the underground palace to get our hands on it!"

"Let's go!"

Cadmus Wujia waved his hand.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

"Whoo-hoo-hoo!"

The ancient chariots of the gentry clans tore through the voids with a rumbling sound as their war flags fluttered in a terrifying manner.

The spirit vessels of Ten Upper Sects streaked through the air and their horns sounded with a shuddering aura!

Taban Feng, Cadmus Wujia, and Murong Wolt stood on their chariots and looked down at the world.

On the spirit vessels, legacy disciples of the Ten Upper Sects stood with their hands behind their backs fearlessly, revealing fervent and excited gazes in the depths of their eyes!

After the three gentry clans and Ten Upper Sects, the remaining paragons from all over the place surged forward like a tsunami wave.

On the ground, a black-robed swordsman walked forward step by step expressionlessly with lost eyes that could not seem to focus.

The strange thing was that there was no one around him at all!

Although the crowd was dense, a path opened up instinctively when it encountered the black-robed swordsman.

After it wrapped him, the crowd converged once more.

Within the palace.

A sinister wind gusted and specters surrounded them.

Millions of otherworldly soldiers were gathered at this place, forming an indestructible dark cloud that blanketed the skies above the palace!

Although the otherworldly soldiers in the palace were not alive, they maintained their habits from their previous life.

Now that the palace was met with external foes, all the otherworldly soldiers were gathered here to guard it!

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

The millions of otherworldly soldiers chanted angrily in a dense, black crowd. It was deafening and formed a torrential aura that surged over!

*Boom!*

The two opposing forces collided and the world shook, causing the partially destroyed walls left behind in the palace to collapse.

One side was the paragons of the North Region.

The other side was the guards of the once number-one empire of the North Region that had spanned through history.

Meat and blood spewed as the collision happened and a few Martial Masters died on the spot while countless otherworldly soldiers dispersed, turning into malevolent energy that dissipated into the void.

The otherworldly soldiers that amounted to the millions were scary.

However, almost all the paragons of the North Region were gathered here – this was a shuddering force that could destroy everything!

The paragons of the four gentry clans and the legacy disciples of the Ten Upper Sects killed their way through with various means, pushing into the depths of the palace in an unyielding manner and destroying endless otherworldly soldiers!

Muron D'ohr and Mala Deisho followed the crowd and exchanged glances – both could read the shock in the other's eyes.

The paragons were way too scary!

If the two of them had barged into the palace and encountered these otherworldly soldiers, they would definitely be dead.

Yet, before them, even as the most frightening heavy-armored mounted riders of the palace rushed over, they could not stop the ancient chariots of the gentry clans and the spirit vessels of the Ten Upper Sects.

The heavy-armored mounted riders could not defend against the charge of the chariots and warships and were crushed into dust!

Taban Feng wielded his halberd and Cadmus Wujia wielded his golden three-pronged spear, rushing forward with immense strength to kill at melee combat – they were unstoppable on their chariots!

G'ang Nan of Blaze Depth Valley hollered and his sleeves fluttered, sending forth scarlet flames that turned the otherworldly soldiers before him into ashes.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

With every word chanted by the paragon of Seven Kills Sect, his aura would increase by a fold, and everywhere he passed by would end up in destruction!

There was a blood mist that shrouded the paragon of Blood Mist Sect the entire time and no one could see his true appearance.

However, when otherworldly soldiers approached, they would be devoured by the blood mist and vanish entirely.

The Dark Ghost Sect's paragon was even more frightening.

He advanced while conjuring hand seals expressionlessly. Yet, when the otherworldly soldiers charged over, they seemed to be affected by some mysterious power.

The red glows in the eyes of the otherworldly soldiers gradually fainted and they surrounded the Dark Ghost Sect's paragon, listening to his orders and protecting him!

Before long, the number of otherworldly soldiers gathered around that person increased constantly and became a massive army that pushed into the depths of the palace instead.

The methods of the various paragons were powerful and stunning.

It did not take long for the paragons to arrive at the entrance to the underground palace.

Taban Feng did not pause at all and charged right in with his chariot.

Cadmus Wujia, Murong Wolt, and the paragons of the Ten Upper Sects were naturally unwilling to fall behind and swarmed into the underground palace as well.

Thankfully, the palace was huge enough such that it did not seem crowded even as the paragons swarmed the place with their chariots.

The terrifying scarlet mist in the underground palace that could devour living beings gradually faded.

This meant that the Vermilion Fruit was about to ripen!

There was no longer any green tinge on the body of the scarlet fruit and it had shone brightly with a dark red color.

Even looking at it from far away, one could sense the tremendous amount of essence energy contained within the fruit!

Some of the martial artists wrapped over from the side and scrutinized the martial artists in the surroundings constantly, worried that they would get themselves murdered by accident.

The number of martial artists gathered in the underground palace increased with the Vermilion Fruit in the center. All of them maintained their distance with one another with guarded gazes.

Right at the front, there were more than a hundred martial artists closest to the Vermilion Fruit.

Apart from the paragons of the four gentry clans and the legacy disciples of the Ten Upper Sects, there were also paragons from everywhere else.

Naturally, no one was willing to display weakness when they saw the Vermilion Fruit!

Muron D'ohr and Mala Deisho stood at the outermost perimeter – it was clear that they wanted to stay out of trouble.

The two of them were curious as well to see who could obtain the Vermilion Fruit given this star-studded crowd and become the number one Perfected Being of the North Region, exerting dominance over everyone else!

Although things were considered to be peaceful in the underground palace right now, it was filled with a murderous aura.

Both of them felt shudders even though they were far from the center.

The reason why everyone had not attacked was because the Vermilion Fruit was not fully ripe yet.

Once the scarlet mist surrounding the Vermilion Fruit dispersed completely and it was fully ripe, an unprecedented battle between the paragons of the North Region would break out!

At that time, countless paragons would be bathed in blood.

No one knew how many of them would be buried in this ruin.

At the same time.

A thousand feet deep beneath the palace, a scholarly gray-robed martial artist stirred awake from his silent slumber, opening his brilliant eyes slowly.

"It's finally about to begin?"

Murmuring softly, the green-robed martial artist had a calm expression with a faint hint of killing intent in his eyes!

When Aiden rose, he alarmed the little fox who was leaning on him by accident.

She sat up and rubbed her drowsy eyes, looking at him instinctively.

That single look was enough to jolt her awake fully.

With a whimper, the little fox lowered her head shyly and covered her eyes with her tiny paws, grumbling internally, "Stupid brute, you're stripping again!"

Aiden removed his gray robes and revealed his almost flawless body.

Going silent for a moment, a series of cracks suddenly sounded from his body as his tendons and bones echoed together. His height increased and his flesh expanded – even his features were changing!

In the blink of an eye, Aiden transformed into a burly man with rough features at two meters tall. With thick brows and big eyes, he no longer looked demure.

The little fox stole a glance and was instantly stunned and dumbfounded.

"Why did he turn into someone else in the blink of an eye?"

"I must be too tired from sleeping.."

The little fox could not believe what she saw and rubbed her eyes before looking again.

The result was the same.

She was initially flustered upon seeing a stranger. However, she calmed down in the blink of an eye and tilted her head, looking at Aiden curiously.

Although Aiden's appearance changed, the unique aura he possessed did not change.

The little fox spent this period of time lazing beside him and was extremely familiar with that aura.